Buffed to almost clinical perfection by a trusty stable of hit makers— including Max Martin, Dr. Luke, Bloodshy, Rodney Jerkins, and Benny Blanco — Britney Spears’s seventh album zeroes in on a single goal: making the listener move. This is not to be confused with moving the listener, as emotions take a back seat to motions on “Femme Fatale.’’ This one’s strictly for the dancers, be they inveterate club haunters or secret living room tail-feather shakers.
When her supporting cast puts Spears directly under the disco ball, equipped with the proper background thump and vocal tweaking — packing the shivery anticipation, sweaty workout, and exultant release of a great night on the dance floor into one perfectly shiny package — the album takes flight. (And yes, the fact that this trajectory might also describe a great night of something else is purely intentional and not without naked allusion on a record obsessed with dance, music, sex, and romance.)
The robotically funky “(Drop Dead) Beautiful’’ is fizzy and frolicsome. The shimmering, spacey synths of catchy single “Hold It Against Me’’ offer maximum booty-shaking potential. And the strutting, sultry “Seal It With a Kiss’’ hearkens back to the original flavor Brit, pre-Great Mid-Aughties Meltdown. Even the often irksome Will.i.am of the Black Eyed Peas manages to make the ultra-frivolous “Big Fat Bass’’ sizzle.
When Spears isn’t squarely in the zone, she manages to be zone-adjacent as her A-team creditably grinds out B-list foot-tappers like “Inside Out.’’
While “Femme Fatale’’ has its moments of faint ridiculousness — or outright in the case of “Criminal,’’ with its forlorn flute figure and campy lyrics declaring “Mama, I’m in love with a criminal’’ — it’s mostly a giddy good time, a tailor-made pre-soundtrack for a girls night out where a little mischief is on the menu.
Sarah Rodman can be reached at srodman@globe.com. 
